I find it hard to find things to print anymore. Seems like it is all gimmicks, fidgets, figurines. I like printables and maker world, but wow, I find it hard to find good things to print!
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Iâm finding far fewer things by browsing and many more by encountering need. For example, I had a camping chair blow a connector over the weekend. I could sit down and model the parts, but a quick search on printables found several candidates that Iâm weeding throughâŚ
It seems Iâm doing far more of that kind of thing than just printing random stuff these days.
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Whatâs âgoodâ mean to you? Personally, am often printing things to solve a problem/frustration, utility, quality of life stuff.
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I find the opposite. Today I printed a 10â server rack and a 10â frame for a small server I recently bought. Tomorrow I´ll probaly print frames for 1 or more raspberry pi.
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I was looking for a vacuum hose afapter and there are some on grabcaf and some on thingiverse and orintables, but i wanted one to connect to the dust collector and to a chop saw that is unusual. After looking and looking i printed one that was close but not workable and then just drew one and modified it for the other end. Thinking i could print a cyclone as well, but that is s very long couple prints and i can buy one for cheap.
Thinking about that neat topic video just posted on the Multicolor printer and that looks more interesting to print than vacuum parts.
I used this to connect a few oddball sizes out there. Itâs usually just circles so you shouldnât need to find it, just configure what you need directly.
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My camlock vac system now has Eighty-something remixes, mostly adapters for different tools and vacs - if you search there you might find exactly what you want!
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I guess Iâm always designing, making or adapting things, not everything is Printables material - Here on the boat last week I brought a new grill for the frig outlet, some little hooks to hold a curtain restraint, a stand to hold a plug-in insect repellant jar when itâs not plugged in.
I have an almost infinite list of things that need fixing or updating. This morning Iâve made a little sketch of our stove knob layout - the decals showing which plate is turned on have worn away so Iâm going to print a new âbarâ with the graphic on it and embedded magnets.
Flexi dragons donât make the grade! Iâm afraid!
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I think itâs more related to your printing need than anything else
If you donât have a use case, then all yoi see is what the platforms will propose on the first page: insta-grammable content, fidgets and dump AI slope
I suffered from the same problem the last few weeks, but Iâm printing a lot of things atm, mostly because we changed the above-ground pool and I needed lots of tubing adapters, accessories ahnegrs and suchâŚ
What I can clearly see though, is that modeling is becoming crappier.
Itâs never been so easy to design and print a thing (ok, modeling is still a bit harder, but printing has become âclick to printâ), and a lot of models I download are just⌠not great⌠dumbâŚ
Lotâs of models with the creator clearly spending more time in generating a superlative description and taking photos/renders than actually modeling and testing his partâŚ
A lot a model just donât care about âprint-abilityâ anymore. âHey just use supports!â⌠Naaah⌠I like my parts to be designed with the manufacturing process in mind, this shouldânt be an after-thoughtâŚ
I wanted to print an outlet for the poolâs filter⌠hundreds of models⌠all requiring supprot, all printed in default orientation withhout a single f** given about stability or strengthâŚ
I mean⌠itâs fine and all, it prints, in the end.. but this is just using tons of support for the sake of copying an existing part
I only found one - maybe two - that would print flat on the printbed and aknowledge for the specificity of the 3d printers rather than just copying injection-molded designsâŚ
Or this one, designed to print flat, with internal structures for bridging
Lots of lazy design, and wasted time/filamentâŚ
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I find myself searching for accesories for new tools (okay toys). Recently purchased a vinyl cutter off of Craigslist (wanted to cut longer pieces from rolls, which my Burly wasnât really up to) and now Iâve got several add-ons to print out.
I mostly print functional things. I donât really go searching for random cool things to print. So, Iâll look for things to solve a specific problem, or design my own.
I did print this crazy rattlesnake for my niece though.
The most useful thing I designed myself recently is a soap holder for in the shower. For like 15+ years, I was putting soap on the spot the shower has for it, which always got wet leading to soap scum and dissolving it faster. This goes on the other end, custom fit to the curvature of the shower.
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Much to my Kidâs dismay, I never got into printing all the ânormalâ 3d prints.
My printers have always been tools for me to use for stuff I need.
Sadly, that means they sit idle 90% of the time, as do most of the tools in my shop.
But when I need them, boy am I happy theyâre sitting there!
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I read that as:
âmuch to my kidneyâs dismayâŚâ